Luke 17:20 ¶ And when he
was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered
them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo
there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
One cannot see this kingdom of God
inside of us unless one is born again. Note this very important passage in
John’s gospel.
John 3:1 ¶ There was a man
of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said
unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can
do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How
can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his
mother’s womb, and be born? 5 Jesus
answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water [natural
birth, see verse 4 for context] and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of
the flesh is flesh [natural birth; see verse 4]; and that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not
that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that
is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus
answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a
master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak
that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
12 If I have told you earthly things,
and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
13 And no man hath ascended up to
heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in
heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have eternal life. 16 For
God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to
condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned:
but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in
the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men
loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the
light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light,
that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
What is the kingdom of God, though?
Romans 14:17 For the
kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in
the Holy Ghost.
And these are not just mere words alone without substance.
1Corinthians 4:20 For the
kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.
In the kingdom of God and kingdom of Heaven parables there are
warnings given about counterfeits and counterfeit faith, and about people with
malicious intent deceiving and doing harm. They will be dealt with in God’s own
time as the parable of the tares and the wheat and the parable of the woman
leavening three measures of meal show. There is a parable about a sower and the
word as seed and it is shown how false conversions and shallow conversions can
happen and what their result is. I remarked on those in the comments on the
gospels.
But, there Paul said in Romans in the text itself that the kingdom
of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, the very mind of
God, indwelling the believer. The verse-by-verse comparisons show that the
kingdom of God and of Heaven are synonyms with the kingdom of Heaven used only
by Matthew who also uses the kingdom of God so we are not talking about a
political rule with armies and fortresses and weapons of carnal war but
spiritual in nature having to do with the heart and mind.
As Paul said;
2Corinthians 10:3 For
though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4 (For the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong
holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and
every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and
bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
6 And having in a readiness
to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
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